Industrial - Bachelor

HALO

Every second can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency, so why do dispatchers still rely on fragmented information from panicked callers?

HALO is an autonomous drone system deployed the moment a Triple Zero call is made, delivering real-time visual clarity to enable faster, informed response. Designed to scale with urban growth, HALO brings Vision, Clarity and Control to emergency communication.

Noah Broeckx

The Problem

Emergency communication is a highly fragile system which currently relies entirely on the descriptions provided by panicked callers, in order for dispatchers to make life-or-death decisions. Where insights provided rely entirely on a person’s ability to describe and interpret, complex situations, often leaving information fragmented, delayed, or inaccurate. In the critical first minutes of an emergency, this exact lack of real-time scene awareness costs time, clarity and control.

A Triple Zero (000) call is received by the QAS every 26 seconds

Queensland Ambulace service
Emergency call dispatcher in overcrowded workspace.

Image: Queensland Ambulance Service, “Emergency Medical Dispatchers”. Retrieved from https://www.ambulance.qld.gov.au/careers/emd

Triple Zero dispatch was built for a smaller, slower paced world. Today, growing urban populations, increasing call volumes and rising critical incidents are pushing it to its breaking point. With no direct visual link to the scene, dispatchers face growing pressure to make faster, more accurate decisions with the same outdated tools.

How might we implement multimodal, emerging technologies within the current emergency service system to alleviate systematic pressure and improve awareness, communication, and decision-making support for emergency personnel?

Problem Statement

The solution

What is it?

HALO is an autonomous drone-based situational awareness system that responds the moment a Triple Zero call is made. Instead of waiting for information to be described over the phone, HALO provides dispatchers with immediate visual insight of the emergency, allowing them to verify the scene, direct first responders with clarity, and reduce delays caused by miscommunication or uncertainty. Designed to work within existing emergency service infrastructure, HALO enhances decision-making, not by replacing people, but by giving them sight when it matters most.

How does it work?

HALO drones are equipped with modular, context specific sensor payloads that allow dispatchers to gain insight on otherwise missed critical scene information. Each drone carries a FPV oriented traditional RGB live camera, helping operators navigate and correct drone autonomous flight. Upon arrival on-scene, dispatchers are able to view a Birds-eye angle of the emergency, via a specialised Nadir angle sensor camera, (Thermal, Night Vision or LiDAR).

Still image from video by Tom Fisk. Retrieved from: https://www.pexels.com/video/drone-footage-of-fire-and-emergency-services-11584959/

Primary Research Findings

Primary research was conducted in the form of surveys and interviews to gain insights on people’s experiences within the emergency service system surrounding difficulties and pain points. Additional research was conducted around general drone perceptions and their potential use in an emergency context.

63% of survey participants ranked privacy as their highest concern around drone use, followed by safety, misuse and no concerns respectfully.

63% of survey respondents ranked privacy as their highest concern for drone use in an emergency context, well above safety, misuse or having no concerns at all. Participants expressed discomfort if drones could record indiscriminately or operate without clear purpose.

“…people might think, ‘I’m being watched all the time.’ If it was very clear it was emergency response, that would put people’s minds at ease…”

Interview Participant

Support for drones in an emergency service context however, remained overwhelmingly positive, regardless of existing comforts surrounding the technology. Participants showed support, so long as the system remained transparent, temporary and focused purely on emergency response and aiding the public.

Despite existing comfort around drone use, all survey participants had strong support for EMS implementation, seeing their value on a scale of valuable, to extremely valuable.

Design Features

Designed for Trust, Safety and Privacy

Primary research with members of the public, yielded four consistently recurring concerns surrounding, privacy, safety, noise and general discomfort around drone use. People saw the life-saving potential of drone-assisted emergency response, but made one thing clear: they would only support the system if it was safe, respectful and transparent.

Rather than treating these concerns as limitations, HALO uses them as real-world design criteria. Where every visible element of the system, from toroidal propellers that reduce noise, to frosted bodywork that blocks cameras when grounded, exists because of concerns voiced by real people.
This section explores how HALO translates public hesitation into intentional design.

Building a system made to be trusted, instead of tolerated.

View looking up at bottom of drone

HALO’s Thrust and Control System

The design of HALO centres around its co-axial, contra-rotating toroidal thrust system, selected for its balance of aerodynamic efficiency, acoustic performance and manoeuvrability.

Unlike traditional open-blade quadcopters, HALO’s paired toroidal propellers generate greater vertical thrust within a compact footprint, cancelling out torque through opposed rotation. The toroidal geometry improves pressure distribution and reduces tip-vortex formation, resulting in higher thrust efficiency while significantly lowering high-frequency noise, increasing its suitability for deployment in urban environments.

For precise control, HALO is equipped with four thrust-vectoring control vanes positioned offset within the landing structure for optimised directional control. These vanes deflect the downward airflow to achieve full adjustment of its longitudinal, lateral, and vertical axis, (pitch, roll and yaw), without relying on differential rotor speeds. Enabling faster response, smoother stability and better performance during hover or sudden directional changes.
Drone nest mounted on pre-existing street-lamp post, showcasing its translucent design.

HALO’s Deployment Nest System

HALO units are stationed within a modular three-drone deployment nest, designed for rapid response, autonomy and long-term urban integration. Each nest houses, charges and protects up to three drones, keeping them in a constant state of readiness for immediate launch the moment a Triple Zero call is received.

To balance public transparency with privacy, the nest is enclosed in a frosted, light-diffusing polycarbonate shell. This allows the public and emergency staff to visually see how many drones are docked and whether the system is active, while physically blocking all cameras and sensors from view. Ensuring privacy is guaranteed by design, not software.

Inside the nest, drones are mechanically aligned and inductively charged from points within both the top and underside of each unit. This system eliminates exposed connectors, reduces wear, and ensures each drone always remains charged and ready.

The structural frame is built from powder-coated aluminium and weather-resistant composites, with sealed electronics and drainage channels to withstand the harsh weather, public vandalism and long-term urban installation. The modular design allows nests to be deployed in various configurations, scaling alongside emergency infrastructure as required.
Three halo drones in close proximity, indicating connectivity between each unit.

HALO’s Connectivity System

HALO nests operate as local command modules, charging, housing and securely connecting units to central dispatch. Drones are able to communicate with nearby nests and each other, forming resilient mesh networks to extend coverage across urban and even remote environments.

However, HALO is not entirely dependent on constant connectivity to function effectively. During network faults where communication may be disrupted, drones continue operation via onboard GPS navigation, ensuring flight stability & continued scene observation.

In the event of critical failure; complete loss of signal, system faults or low battery. HALO initiates autonomous return-to-nest procedures or engages emergency landing protocols at predefined safe zones. Ensuring no drone is ever lost, maintaining public safety with controlled operation even during communication blackouts
Front view of HALO drone, showcasing emergency lighting.

HALO’s Emergency Lighting System

HALO adopts the universally recognised red and blue emergency lights to signal when it is active and on duty. Ensuring immediate public understanding that when the drone is illuminated, it is actively responding to an emergency. If it is not, it poses no surveillance or recording threat.

Unlike harsh strobing lights found on traditional vehicles, HALO diffuses its emergency lighting through the frosted lower body. This softens glare, maintains visual clarity and ensures the drone remains noticeable without being intrusive in residential or urban environments.

The lighting doesn’t just serve a warning; it is a declaration of intent. Notifying bystanders that; HALO is operational, assisting responders, and doing so transparently. When inactive, all sensors remain obstructed within the dock and lights are off, reinforcing again, that the system respects privacy by design.
Top view of HALO drone, showcasing ducted form.

HALO’s Ducted Drone Form

HALO is built around an enclosed ducted body, contrary to the exposed rotor layout seen on traditional drones today. This ducted form houses its contra-rotating propellers inside a continuous aerodynamic ring, delivering two core advantages: public safety, and improved flight performance.

Ducts act as physical barriers, preventing accidental contact with blades in crowded scenarios, protecting the public, the immediate environment, and the drone itself. Aerodynamically, the shrouded propeller increases thrust efficiency between the low- and high-pressure air zones, reducing induced drag and allowing HALO to generate vertical thrust with less power.

In addition to the toroidal propeller geometry, this ducted design also helps reduce harsh operational noise and directs airflow smoothly over control vanes, improving manoeuvrability and stability in urban conditions.
Three vertically stacked HALO drones, showcasing its inductive charging capabilities.

HALO’s Inductive Charging System

HALO drones are vertically stored and inductively charged to remain in constant operational readiness. Drones returning from deployment are stationed via an automated rotation sequence, where docked drones temporarily ascend, exiting the nest and allowing the returning unit to position itself at the nest base.

This ensures recently used drones receive the longest available charge times between deployments and fully charged drones cycle into the upper positions. Inductive charging modules embedded within the top and base of each drone allow the transfer of power throughout the vertically oriented stack, ensuring all drones contained within the nest remain at their full operational capacity.

This charging process eliminates exposed connectors, wear points and reduces the frequency of manual maintenance, keeping the fleet balanced, powered and ready to launch with minimal need for human intervention.

The Manufacturing, ASSEMBLY and REGULATORY CONSIDERATIONS

Exploded view of HALO drone.

Design Development

Initial Concepts

Sketching

Prototyping

FINAL MODEL

Name
Research Report – HALO 2025
File Type
application
File Size
6 MB
Download File
Name
Design Development Record – HALO 2025
File Type
application
File Size
7 MB
Download File

Noah Broeckx

Noah is an industrial designer with a focus on form, digital craft and modern manufacturing. He works across 3D modelling, visualisation and hands-on prototyping to translate ideas into refined physical products. His experience at BMW in Munich strengthened his understanding of how aesthetics and function meet in practice, particularly within product innovation and future-focused design.